ST. PAUL, Minn. — The deadline deal that brought big-time scorer Martin St. Louis to Broadway hasn’t exactly been an instant smash hit.

For the Rangers, beaten in Minnesota 2-1 by the Wild Thursday night, have scored just 11 goals in going 2-2-1 in five games since the trade that sent Ryan Callahan to the Lightning, only four at five-on-five — and none from the stick of St. Louis, who, in the words of coach Alain Vigneault, “obviously [is] pressing.”

“I knew it was going to be hard making this transition,” St. Louis, who had four shots in 20:23, told The Post. “I try to be honest with myself in assessing my game, and I try not to get caught up in whether I score.

“I think my work ethic has been there but obviously the production isn’t. I wish I had a few bounces but you have to earn those bounces and that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m going to work my way through this.

“Once I get going, I will get going.”

Said Vigneault on the winger who scored 29 goals in 62 games with Tampa Bay despite seven- and nine-game droughts along the way: “Oh, he is pressing. He’s in a new environment and wants to do well. He’s putting a lot of pressure on himself. He wants to do well. He’s got to work himself through it, and he will.”

The Rangers are going through a stretch where nothing but nothing is coming easy to them. Cam Talbot, who has surrendered two goals or fewer in 14 of his 17 starts, was helpless on Minnesota’s two goals, both coming off defensive zone breakdowns, the winner scored by Zach Parise off a goalmouth scramble at 1:03 of the third period on his team’s fourth whack at the puck from in front.

The effort was much better than it was in Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat in Carolina, but the Blueshirts were unable to generate off the forecheck or on the rush. They rarely pressured goaltender Darcy Kuemper or the Wild defense.

Vigneault juggled his top two combinations, flipping left wings Chris Kreider and Carl Hagelin in an effort to stimulate the attack. Kreider moved to the unit with St. Louis and Brad Richards while Hagelin skated with Rick Nash and Derek Stepan, the latter of whom scored the lone Rangers goal on a power play that tied the score 1-1 at 3:19 of the second.

The switch didn’t flip one for the Rangers, who have scored four goals five-on-five, one four-on-four, three shorthanded, two on the power play (one five-on-three) and one empty-netter since the deadline.

“This is not the time to go cold,” an extremely frustrated Brad Richards told The Post. “I don’t want to sit here with excuses, but we’ve gotten some weird bounces lately, too. I had the puck bounce right through my legs in the first when I was in front, and at a time like this, getting that first goal can be so important.

“But the fact also is that for four periods — the three in Carolina and the first in this one — we certainly didn’t create enough. We’ve got to get to the net more and we need to get back to shooting the puck more.

“I think we’ve got to dumb it down a little bit.”

The Rangers, who are in Winnipeg Friday night, have won just two of their last seven (2-4-1), having dropped the two games immediately preceding the trade. They are tied for second place with Columbus in the Metro, one point ahead of the fourth-place Flyers, who hold the conference’s final playoff spot as a wild card, with Philadelphia having played two fewer games than the Blueshirts.

“I don’t think anyone is going to panic,” said Marc Staal, one of the miscreants on the winner. “At this time of the year, all the games are going to be tight. We have to be patient and stick with it.

Sound off on the game

This Ranger team has too many deficiencies to make the playoffs and contend. It is built of small finesse forwards (some of whom can score) , older players on the decline, but overall lacking toughness, grit , and size. When push comes to shove, these deficiencies show up large. Sather seems to sign players for what they did 5 years ago, never bothering to figure out how player cohesiveness and chemistry will figure into the winning equation. This team is Sather's folly. He created it and now he can watch as things go terribly wrong. The only strong points are the goal tending and the forth line (than can contribute), but forth lines are usually not game changers.

The Rangers are still a middling team. The last twenty games of the season, all teams start gearing up. The Rangers don't have another level to gear up to. Their record in the last quarter of the season and in the playoffs over the last five years is .500.

The Rangers are struggling, but let's not write them off yet. Remember the chemistry they had going into the Olympic break. When Zuc and Nash start producing again, it will boost the rest. Not to mention St. Louis. It takes one good game, but those are few this time of year.

Re Olympics: anyone who saw the Vancouver gold medal game, or Sochi USA-Canada game knows that the Olympics are the only place and time to see that level of hockey. Wow! I wouldn't get rid of that.

The Olympic break has nothing to do with this, although truth be know, I for one despise the idea. That being said, the Rangers are a second tier team whose balance and confidence is ridiculously fragile. Brad Richards has been a massive disappointment and St. Louis is just another of a long list of goal scorers who have come here and have seen there performance slip dramatically. Mike Gartner is the only such player that came here and was consistently as good as he was elsewhere. This team will make the playoffs and their only hope to win one round is to avoid the Bruins. Otherwise it's four (maybe five) games and out.

Hogwash. All teams have the break and other teams come out cold as well. They stink because they are a collection of parts, not a team. They have a few scorers that can't seem to finish. The roster as a whole is just OK. They need size on defense; they get manhandled down low (see the 2nd Minnesota goal). Vigneault's motion offense works when the lines are clicking. How many more line changes are we gonna see?? St. Louis is clearly stressed; Richards takes some periods off; Kreider has been MIA. The goaltending tandem is the strong point of the team, but if you don't score, you lose. The more they use their defensemen to join the attack, the more they are vulnerable in their own end, chasing odd man rushes. I was not a fan of Tortorella, but the team today is no better than last year's.............

If the NHL insists on continuing to interrupt a season for the pointless Olympic participation, despite the fact that it hasn't helped the sport or the league gain even ONE fan, then the Rangers need to forbid their players from going. This is the third Olympics in the row that the Rangers went in on a hot streak and came out flat.

@dlagrua . who do you blame for the fact that in 73 of the last 74 years the Rangers lost... 1 cup in 74 years means this team is a bad team and always has been... plenty of blame to go around considering the Rangers are worse than the Mets in regards to championships in the last 5 decades

@alakawak and whats your excuse for ALL the other years..this is a team with exactly 1 cup in 74 years.... that's worse than the Jets and Mets..so please stop with the excuses and just realize you root for an organization that is best known for losing and the arena they play in but certainly not known for being a winning team